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Chronic pulmonary colonization with bacterial pathogens, particularly Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is the primary cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Investigators observed that β1-integrins accumulate on the luminal membrane of upper-airway epithelial cells from mice and humans with CF. β1-integrin accumulation was due to increased ceramide and the formation of ceramide platforms that trapped β1-integrins on the luminal pole of bronchial epithelial cells. [Cell Host Microbe]
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Loss of epithelial barrier integrity is implicated in a number of human lung diseases. However, the molecular pathways underlying this process are poorly understood. In a phenotypic screen, investigators identified Axl kinase as a negative regulator of epithelial phenotype and function. [Lab Invest]
Abstract

The authors review the progress made in uncovering aspects of the biology of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and its microenvironment that are defining new therapeutic strategies and offering renewed hope for patients. [Nat Rev Clin Oncol]
Abstract

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TaiGen Biotechnology Company, Limited announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for the intravenous formulation of Taigexyn® to the China Food and Drug Administration. Taigexyn® is a novel non-fluorinated quinolone antibiotic. The NDA submission is supported by a pivotal Phase III trial comparing intravenous formulations of Taigexyn® to levofloxacin in 518 patients with moderate to severe community-acquired pneumonia. [TaiGen Biotechnology Company, Limited (PR Newswire Association LLC.)]
Press Release

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced that it has reached an agreement with the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland to fund ORKAMBI® for people in Ireland with cystic fibrosis (CF) ages 12 and older who have two copies of the F508del mutation. [Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated]
Press Release

Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Complete Response Letter for the New Drug Application for SUN-101/eFlow® for the long-term, maintenance treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with COPD, including chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema. [Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc.]
Press Release

Novartis announced the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the expanded use of Zykadia® to include the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic NSCLC whose tumors are anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive, as detected by an FDA-approved test. [Novartis]
Press Release

In the next few months, surgeons in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou will carefully drill through the skulls of people with Parkinson’s disease and inject four million immature neurons derived from human embryonic stem (ES) cells into their brains. Then they will patch the patients up, send them home and wait. This will mark the start of the first clinical trial in China using human ES cells, and the first one worldwide aimed at treating Parkinson’s disease using ES cells from fertilized embryos. [Nature News]
Editorial

Scholarly-services firm Cabell’s International says that it will launch its own list of predatory journals: those that deceive their authors or readers, for example by charging fees to publish papers without conducting peer review. [Nature News]
Editorial

The owner of the vast science-citation database Web of Science — Clarivate Analytics — is buying up a firm that has gathered hundreds of thousands of peer-review records, in a deal that could lead to new ways of organizing scientific peer review and preventing peer-review fraud. [Nature News]
Editorial